Dragon's Heart (The DragonFate Novels Book 3)

by Deborah Cooke

  “You,” Nereus said. “You dare to create an abomination with one of my kind.”

  Rhys roared and slashed at Nereus with his claw. The King Under the Seas darted backward hastily and avoided the blow, but he dropped his trident. Smoke rose from Rhys’ nostrils as he stepped over the trident, trapping it beneath his weight.

  Nereus circled around him, keeping his back to the wall, but there was no way to get the trident while Rhys stood guard over it. Rhys simply watched and waited.

  Lila realized she was backed against the cabinet where Nereus had gotten the dark liquid. She watched Nereus and Rhys as she located the bottle. She gripped it tightly, circling the room slowly, moving toward the broken window. She’d see it destroyed forever. She didn’t think Rhys would lose, but this would ensure that Nereus could never compel anyone else to drink the vile substance.

  “You have no respect,” Nereus said to Rhys. “You have no appreciation for tradition...”

  “And you have no interest in Lila’s opinions,” Rhys replied in old-speak.

  Nereus was visibly startled. He narrowed his eyes and stared at Rhys. “Get out of my thoughts, worm-spawn,” he replied as selkies communicated.

  “Lila says you killed her son,” Rhys said aloud and Lila knew from the melodic tone of his voice that he was trying to beguile Nereus. Nereus was staring at him, transfixed.

  “I killed her son,” Nereus admitted, his voice oddly subdued. Then he shook his head and glared at Lila. She froze, just inches from the window, the bottle hidden behind her back. “It was only right. He was an abomination and should never have existed. Selkies should breed with selkies...”

  Lila bristled. “Thomas wasn’t an abomination!”

  “He was a half-breed,” Nereus said with a sneer. “And he shouldn’t have been born. You should have mated with me instead of that mortal man. You should have thought of the good of your kind, instead of indulging your unnatural appetites.”

  “What’s the difference between you and Malcolm Ramsay?” Lila demanded. “Both of you thought only of your desires.”

  Nereus’ eyes flashed. “I gave you the key to the hiding place for your skin. That’s the difference.”

  “I only met Malcolm Ramsay because I was fleeing from you,” Lila said and Rhys glanced back at her in surprise. “I listened to him because you wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

  “Your future is my right to determine! I am your king!” Nereus cried and lunged for the trident.

  Rhys snapped at him and caught the sleeve of his sweater in his teeth. Nereus retreated but he was caught. He tugged hard on the sweater and it tore, unraveling as he raced away from Rhys. He tugged it over his head and flung it at Rhys as he threw himself out of the dining room and crossed the deck. Rhys shifted shape in a shimmer of blue to run after him.

  “This isn’t done!” Nereus cried and dove over the side of the yacht, Rhys in hot pursuit.

  “But he’ll drown!” Lila said. “He doesn’t have his skin.” She didn’t have hers, either, or she might have dived in after him. She looked back toward the locker and knew that by the time she retrieved it, it would be too late for Nereus.

  Rhys gave her a sizzling look. “It would serve him right.”

  Lila shook her head. “I’m a healer, Rhys. It would be unkind.”

  Rhys swore, shifted again, and dove over the rail in his dragon form.

  They both vanished completely and Lila acknowledged that there was only one of them she was afraid to lose. She spilled the contents of that bottle then flung it into the sea. Once that was done, she clutched the rail, scanning the dark surface of the water until Rhys appeared again. He was still in his dragon form, but took a gulp of air and dove beneath the waves once more.

  He’d gone after Nereus for her. Lila knew it and hoped the price wasn’t too high.

  She hoped she hadn’t made a mistake by showing compassion.

  Rhys seemed to be under for too long, to her thinking, before he emerged again. He began to swim and she saw that he wasn’t accustomed to swimming, at least not in his dragon form. The waves were powerful, though, and if he shifted shape, he might be overwhelmed. The yacht wasn’t that fast but it was leaving him behind.

  “Help!” she shouted, uncertain who might hear her but hoping someone did. She pulled out the key Nereus had given her so she could retrieve her skin.

  “Balthasar,” Rhys said in old-speak and Lila realized he hadn’t come alone.

  Before she could think of where to look for the other Pyr, she saw a shimmer of blue light at the bridge above her and a dragon in silhouette against the night sky as he took flight. Lila was glad to see him even though she wasn’t sure who he was.

  This dragon was citrine and gold, as brilliantly hued as a beam of sunlight, and he dove into the sea without fear, pulling Rhys to the surface. Lila heard a rumble like a freight train and thought she could discern their words, then there was blue light again and Rhys shifted shape. The citrine and gold dragon took flight, carrying Rhys in his talons, and landed gracefully on the back deck of the yacht. Blue light flashed and Lila recognized Balthasar.

  She fell on her knees beside Rhys, who was breathing heavily. He wasn’t just soaked to the skin but chilled. “I should have learned to swim,” he said, his tone rueful and took her hand. He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Lila. I couldn’t see him at all. It was like he vanished.”

  “You tried, though,” she said, kissing his cheek. “You tried, even though it was against your own inclination.”

  He smiled crookedly at her. “Because you asked me to,” he said in a soft rumble and Lila’s heart clenched tightly.

  Did she dare to love him?

  When she didn’t reply, Rhys offered his hand to Balthasar. “Thanks for that.”

  “Hey, any time. You might give me a bit of warning, though.” They fist-bumped then all three of them returned to the railing and looked across the water. There was no sign of Nereus. The dark surface of the ocean stretched in all directions, and only choppy waves could be seen. In the distance far behind them, Lila could see the glow of Manhattan, already fading from view. There were some lights to the north, perhaps from freighters, but nothing in the seas. The skies were clearer out here and she could see stars between the clouds. There was no snow falling but the wind was icy cold.

  “Go warm up,” Balthasar said to Rhys. “That wind is bitter.”

  “Is everything okay on the bridge?” Rhys asked.

  “The crew are pretty docile. I think I’ve got this,” Balthasar said, then headed back.

  “Are you all right?” Rhys asked as Lila led him toward the cabin Nereus had given her. There were dry clothes there.

  She nodded. “Thanks for following me. I didn’t realize he was so dangerous.”

  “Was I right that he charmed you and was trying again?”

  Lila nodded again. “I wonder whether he had succeeded a bit. It’s forbidden among our kind to try to charm each other. I never even thought he might break that injunction.”

  “I don’t think Nereus believes any rules apply to him.” Rhys was emphatic and obviously disapproved of that.

  Lila saw that his gaze was still simmering. “Did you come for me or our son?” She had to ask.

  Rhys smiled. “Both, but mostly you,” he said and she believed it.

  “You’re just trying to convince me that it’s a good idea to keep you around.”

  He chuckled. “Can’t blame me for trying.” He peeled off his shirt and shook out his hair. Lila brought him a towel and he rubbed himself down.

  “No. And you can’t blame me for finding you persuasive, even without the firestorm.”

  Rhys sobered, clearly surprised.

  Lila averted her gaze. “I always thought I liked being alone and self-reliant. I never thought I wanted a bond with anyone, or responsibilities in my life. I certainly didn’t want a family. I left the one I had—”

  “For the sake of your own survival.”

  �
�But I never went back. I told myself that they would be fine.” She met Rhys’ gaze and saw understanding there. “But I think I didn’t want to be tempted. There was something so sweet and comforting about that life, something I did miss, even though I didn’t want to admit it.”

  She took a breath and led him to the cabinet to show him its contents. “When he admitted he’d taken my son, when I saw that Thomas’ most prized possession was a trophy, I felt sick and then I was furious.” She touched the little bag of treasures and felt her tears rise.

  “The bag you told me about,” Rhys said quietly, the weight of his hand landing on the back of her waist. “I’m sorry, Lila.”

  “I am, too.” She turned to face him. “I don’t know much about being a partner, Rhys, and I know just about nothing about having a family. But I’d like to try to be with you, for more than just the sake of the firestorm.”

  Rhys was clearly shaken. “If you’re going to make my dreams come true, I’ll have to try to do the same.”

  “Is that fair warning?” She smiled at him, liking the sound of that very much.

  “I think it is,” he agreed. He studied her as if she was the marvel, then bent to kiss her. Lila leaned against him as his mouth closed over hers with that leisurely resolve she was finding very addictive, and she wound her fingers into his hair, drawing him even closer. His kiss turned hungry and he caught her nape in his hand, slanting his mouth across hers to deepen their embrace, and Lila made a low sound of satisfaction.

  It turned out that a Pyr’s kiss wasn’t any less persuasive without the spark of the firestorm.

  Nereus swam with all his might, fury giving him power. How dare that dragon shifter interfere with his plans for the survival of his kind? Somehow, Nereus would offer him up to the Dark Queen, and make a deal for the selkies. Somehow, he would trap that Pyr, using his own nature against him. Somehow he would claim Lila for his own and ensure that her unborn child never saw the light of day.

  But first the dragon shifter had to be snared. How? He was powerful. He had Nereus’ trident. He was protective of Lila and would probably pursue Nereus all the way to the Isle of the Blessed to finish their battle. The dark mirror was there and offered a portal to deliver the dragon shifter to the Dark Queen, if he could be tempted to approach it, if he could be snared.

  Nereus paused for a moment. That token the Pyr wore around his neck. He had seen something like it before, in the flotsam and jetsam of drownings and shipwrecks. There was a similar piece in the treasury, Nereus was certain of it.

  And if one half was of value to the dragon shifter, the other half would be the perfect bait for a trap.

  Sixteen

  Rhys was ready to celebrate with Lila in the best possible way, but the sound of knocking interrupted their embrace.

  “Lila?” A woman called, her voice muffled. “Lila! Is that you?”

  “Up there,” Rhys said and they climbed the stairs.

  The bridge was at the summit of the ship, with three levels beneath it. Rhys guessed there was at least one more level beneath the waterline with accommodations for staff, supplies and fuel. The dining room, kitchen and the room where Lila had been secured were on the largest level. At the back of the ship on that level was a partly-sheltered patio with a swimming pool.

  “Who’s that?” Rhys demanded of one of the crew on the next level, who just looked at him blankly. “Who else is on the ship?” The crewmember shook his head, as if bewildered by the question.

  “They’re all charmed,” Lila said. “And they’ve been charmed for so long that they’ve forgotten their own will.”

  The floor above had another smaller deck at the back, a cinema and three more staterooms. Rhys and Lila looked through it quickly, seeking the person who knocked. They climbed the stairs to the third level, which had three smaller staterooms.

  Someone was knocking on the inside of the stateroom at the front of the ship.

  “Lila!” the woman called and pounded on the door again. “Lila, if that’s you, please answer me!”

  “Nyssa?”

  “Lila!”

  The door was locked and solidly constructed.

  “His keys,” Lila said and Rhys went back to the dining room where Nereus had left the ring of golden keys, leaving Lila talking to Nyssa through the door. They’d fallen to the floor when he’d hit the table, but they were still there, alongside Nereus’ trident.

  He worked through them on his return to find the one that unlocked the stateroom door. The two selkies embraced, Nyssa almost falling out of the room.

  “I was so worried,” she said. “He charmed me. I’m sorry, Lila. He was waiting for me when I came out of Bones and said you needed my help, then he locked me in here.”

  “Come on,” Lila said. “Rhys will feed you while you tell us everything.” But Nyssa stumbled, too weak to support herself.

  Rhys lifted the weakened selkie in his arms and carried her toward the stairs and the dining room.

  “He has my skin, Lila!”

  Lila stopped and turned, her surprise obvious. “There were two skins,” she told Rhys. “He said one was his.”

  “But it was Nyssa’s.” Rhys realized then that Nereus would survive.

  “He has his skin, then,” Lila said. “He won’t drown.”

  “Where will he go?”

  “Back to the Isle of the Blessed,” Nyssa said with a shake of her head. “He spends his time in the treasury now, trying to figure out what the dragon stole from him. It’s a bit of an obsession.”

  “He can swim that deep?” Lila asked and Nyssa nodded.

  “It’s some old magick of our kind, he told me. He has it all, so no one can interrupt him there.”

  Balthasar came down from the bridge then, his gaze sweeping over the trio and lingering on Nyssa. She smiled invitingly at him, despite her apparent exhaustion. “The captain has collapsed,” he confided worriedly. “It’s like he just fell asleep.”

  “I’ll come and see,” Lila said. “He might just have been charmed too long.” She hurried up the stairs to the bridge.

  Rhys picked up the trident and stood it carefully in the corner, then turned to his fellow Pyr. “Can you pilot this ship?” he asked and Balthasar grinned.

  “Of course. It practically pilots itself. All the bells and whistles. It’s really something.” He caught himself, recognizing his own enthusiasm. “I just need to know where you want to go.”

  “The Isle of the Blessed,” Rhys said. “If you can find it. Nereus and I have unfinished business.”

  Balthasar nodded. “I had a look in the log. This ship consistently returns to a spot in the North Atlantic, just west of the British Isles. That’s pretty much the location of the Anton Dhorn Seamount.”

  “The Isle of the Blessed,” Rhys said and Balthasar nodded.

  “I’m thinking so.”

  “Maybe we can get there before Nereus and surprise him.”

  Balthasar shook his head. “But even if we do, it’s too deep, Rhys. The top of the seamount is about five hundred meters below the surface. You can only go that deep with a submersible and that’s one thing this yacht doesn’t have.”

  Rhys indicated the trident. “But Nereus was in such a hurry that he forgot his trident.”

  “Why does that matter?” Nyssa asked.

  “I wonder whether he’ll come back for it,” Balthasar said.

  But Rhys was thinking of Lila’s comments about his family legacy. “And I’m wondering whether it might work for anyone other than the King Under the Seas.” He spared Balthasar a glance. “How far does that seamount have to rise for us to be able to dive to it?

  Balthasar shrugged. “A lot. You can dive to thirty-nine meters, but twenty would be better. Your air doesn’t last long on deeper dives.”

  Rhys spun the trident so its tines caught the light. “Then I have work to do. How long until we get there?”

  “I’ll figure it out and let you know.”

  Rhys hoped it would b
e a few days. He wasn’t at all sure how easy it would be to start an earthquake, let alone one in a specific location to create a specific result.

  He had to give it all he had, though, for the sake of his and Lila’s son.

  Balthasar calculated that it would take a week for the yacht to cross the Atlantic at full power. It would burn more fuel that way, but there was more than enough. Since they didn’t know what to expect as Nereus’ charms wore off, they secured the crew members in their lodgings. Nyssa worked with them, encouraging their recovery, and Lila helped with the healing, too. There was a lot of food aboard, and plenty of gear. Balthasar instructed Rhys in diving technique, when he could use the yacht’s autopilot, and each night they all ate together as they planned. They were in unanimous agreement that since Nereus did have his skin, his destination would be the sunken Isle of the Blessed. Lila and Nyssa worked together on a map of it and the palace, based on stories they’d heard. They were pretty sure about the location of the treasury in the palace, and that the dark mirror would be there.

  Thorolf and Chandra arrived on the third day after Nereus’ dive into the sea. The large moonstone and silver dragon appeared in the skies overhead just after lunch. Even Lila could hear Thorolf cursing as he targeted the back deck of the yacht. It was generously proportioned for humans, but made a comparatively small target for a dragon landing.

  “Stay out of the pool,” Rhys teased. “You’ll empty it.”

  “I’m trying to stay out of the ocean,” Thorolf retorted. Lila saw that he was carrying a woman and a boy. The boy was obviously enjoying the dragon ride and the woman looked resigned to it. “Here goes nothing!”

  He dove down, shifting shape in the last minute just before his feet touched the deck. The boy raised his hands and hooted like he was on a roller coaster. The deck was slick with moisture so instead of nailing a perfect landing, Thorolf’s boots slipped and he fell hard, sliding across the deck on his hip to collide with the wall. He folded himself around the boy to protect him from injury and Lila assumed it was his son. The woman had jumped from his embrace just before and stood shaking her head even as she smiled at him.